- changed his name; he and his 4 brothers gave themselves their 'American' names A, B, C, D, E.  Since he (born Fu-hing Cheng) was the eldest, he chose "Alex"; his younger brothers are Bob, Carl, Don, Eddie.  (Don and Eddie now use their birth names, Fu-ding and Fu-tung.)
- knows 10 ways to kill a chicken
- won speed-bible verse-finder contests
- won trophies curling
- soaked his wooden skis in urine to soften them up because they didn’t have access to uric acid in the Air force
- once had all of his Christmas presents stolen from his car
- used to pick up Mom for driving dates where she would sleep the whole time, but he just liked having her close to him
- in Hawaii, worked for the Hawaiian Telephone Co. and then Kentron Hawaii. On the side, worked for a greeting card company to help groups raise money
- taught himself the piano
- played guitar and ukelele
- used to be a semi-professional photographer
- made amazing fried rice
- made amazing mushrooms
- was an amazing tennis player
- played racquetball every Tuesday
- was an avid sailor, and raced for 20 years in the SF Bay
- skippered one of two boats he and friends sailed around the Hawaiian Islands
- was an Engineer undergrad but loves all engineering and gadgetry
- loved salmon
- loved pies of all sorts
- had 4 convertibles (or at least 3)
- hot tubbed every night
- loved taking afternoon naps
- used to teach surfing
- could snowboard pretty darn well
- read over 200 books on tape
- never worked 9-to-5, or at least not for 50 years
- loved the ocean
- would comfort himself when stressed or insomniac with thoughts of sailing, the keel of the boat cutting through the waves
- was an archer, and considered hunting by bow & arrow until he hit a deer and the arrow went straight through it and he found the arrow all bloody top to bottom
- loved eating toast with cream cheese and smoked salmon for snack
- loved flannel shirts
- loved long-sleeve, button-down, shirts with vertical stripes
- always wore flip-flops or sandals, preferably neither
- also before falling asleep would think about what he’s thankful for, think about the family, think about swishing down the mountain on his snowboard doing S turns
- was elected to be school editor of his school newspaper in middle school or high school. for his speech he said “Hom ha jing hee yok” and he said when you elect me, I’ll tell you what this means! (it means steamed rice and stinky shrimp sauce or something like that)
- was a champion hurdler at his high school
- had the nickname Reels because of his photography when he taught summer camp for kids while he was in college. One of the kids was a nephew of Baskin or Robbins and Daddy got the whoooole camp ice cream
- loves putting ketchup on his eggs
- loves solid beat favorites!! loves music with a good beat and good bass. loves sitting at the “focal point” of the speakers. loves playing music LOUD!
- had such awesome Adventures
- realized the importance of relationships and family and gave everything for us
- was a cultural liaison for Chinese business people straight from China. He helped them try to fit in here and connect with Americans. Daddy always helped bring people together.
- was always so supportive of everyone in our family.
- always supported our Christmas themes! Suspenders for Swiss Christmas and Hawaiian garb for Hawaiian Christmas.
- got his higher up in the air force a years-worth of beer in exchange for letting him keep is card so he could travel all around Asia before leaving the Air Force
- was an awesome painter
- exfoliated his feet with pumice…because he was always barefoot hehe
- set up computer and tv room with elabroate circuitry
- was always ahead of the game with email, cellular phones, cameras, so much
- loved his Mercedes! Driving machine. Loved to drive fast. Loved cruise control.
- so lovingly woke up to make breakfast and drive us places even if it was really early. He always bent over backwards to help us.
- proposed starting an ice skating rink in Hawaii and included this as part of his applicaton to Business School. He turned down Harvard and went to Stanford. You go, Daddio!
- loved making people feel good
- always wrote in caps or beautiful cursive
- had the most innovative present-wrapping techniques
- made the best personalized cards on the computer
- taught sailing at Lake Merritt and was requested by repeat students time and again!
- imagined bags filled with time, where each one was for a different part of life: work, wife, family, exercise, adventure). He would loosely track which bag was overflowing or lacking and make sure he kept all the bags evenly filled. Balance!!!
- loved teriyaki bowls in Asian food courts!

Below are some additional points from Don!
- Never understood why our partnership, Noetic Systems, needed an office. All he needed was Radio Shack laptop, a Ricochet radio modem, an original cellphone the size of a large brick, and Rickey’s pool or a tree on Skyline to sit by or under.
- Was minimally dressed, but carried business garb in his trunk for meetings (Superman changes in phone booths)
- Was a marketing genius—could distinguish between what people said and what they really needed.
- Loved all people (except dedicated grumps) and knew that the secret of life was being of genuine service.
- Was a master of written expression.
- Was a master story teller—reveled in the odd, the ironic, and sometimes in the deeply moving
- We made an incredibly balanced team that could blow away competitive consultants for 9 years.

Alex passed away on April 24, 2010 due to complications following pneumonia.

Early years

Alex was born in Canton, China on January 30, 1937.  In just a year or so, his parents, Theodore and Patricia, brought him back to their former residence in the US, Southern California.  There, he lived with his parents and four younger brothers on an asparagus farm, and eventually went to Van Nuys High School.

UCLA & Air Force adventures

For college, he received a BS in Engineering at UCLA and then went straight into the US Air Force where (as his numerous stories indicate) he had a lot of amazing experiences that quenched his thirst for adventure, challenges, new cultures, new people, and overall fun.  This is also when he sparked his lifelong passion for sailing and skiing, as well as learned to waterski, shoot 'professional' bow & arrow, curling,,,,and trade a year's worth of beer for a free airline pass anywhere the Air Force planes flew.  If it's fun or breaks any rules, he's done it!

One noteworthy event was when he was stationed in San Antonio, Texas, and happened to meet his future wife Janice Ng (only 16 years old at the time).  He stopped her when she was getting her red coat from the car while at a party.  For many years, Alex and Janice maintained a long-distance relationship, as he traveled so much in the service and she went to Barnard College in NYC.

Marriage & Stanford grad school

One day in 1963, when Alex was living in Honolulu, Hawaii, he had the epiphany that he wanted to retire his bachelorhood and settle down.  He called Janice after a year and a half of not seeing her and asked her to marry him.  Actually, he said: "What do you think about adding the letters 'Che' in front of your last name 'Ng'?"  She thought about it, and the next day sent him a telegram saying "Yes!"  Jan moved to Hawaii, where they lived the island life until Alex was accepted to graduate school.

Alex received his MBA from Stanford University, where he said they teach you "you can do anything!"  He took that advice to heart, when he and classmate Geoff Ziman went touring prominent companies in Europe, pitching themselves as the most qualified, best option for distribution in North America.  No worries that they had no real plan or staff yet!  They closed two deals: one was Kenwood home mixers (precursor to the Cuisinart), and the other was Omega Sports Timing.

Seagull Inc.

Alex became founder and president of Seagull, Inc., which managed these exclusive distribution deals.  Seagull’s Omega systems were used for many prestigious swimming, track, skiing and other sports events throughout the US and Canada, including the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics, 1978 Commonwealth Games, and 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics.  In his book, Splitting the Second, he recounted many of his Seagull experiences.

Family life & marketing consulting

In 1976, Alex and Jan moved from Monta Vista, CA to Portola Valley, CA with two children, Brenton and Melanie; and in 1984 they were blessed with another daughter, Stephanie.  Alex loved working as a marketing executive and consultant for start-up companies with unique products and leading-edge technologies.  For many years, he enjoyed his consulting practice with long-time colleague and friend, Don Allen, at Noetic Systems.

One of his life philosophies was: "There is nothing more fulfilling than to help someone else achieve their goals while having fun getting there."

Recent years

In 2003, Alex and Jan moved near Lake Merritt in Oakland to be closer to grandchildren, Teo and Tessa, and for whom he was always their absolute favorite babysitter!

His lifelong passions were sailing, skiing and more recently snowboarding.  He loved sailing their boat Hulakai ("sea dancer" in Hawaiian), a Triton, in the San Francisco Bay, and was a popular sailing instructor for the City of Oakland’s Office of Parks & Recreation.

Alex was a wonderful husband to Jan and a loving father to their three children.  He was deeply caring, kind, endlessly generous, smart, creative, and prolific.  He had a great sense of humor, always bringing light and smiles to any situation.   He adored his grandchildren and loved sparking the curiousity, creativity and sense of adventure in everyone in the family and all who were graced with his loving spirit.

We love you Alex, Dad!